


Between the Lines

by nikiforovs



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Chubby Katsuki Yuuri, Fluff, Humor, LetVictorHaveAHappyFamily2k17, M/M, Romantic Cliches, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-09-23 11:46:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9656168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikiforovs/pseuds/nikiforovs
Summary: Victor doesn't have a problem.In fact, he has the exact opposite of a problem if he's being entirely honest with himself. (He's not.) The cashier of that hole-in-the-wall bookstore was cute, but he wasn't the only reason Victor returned toSweetest Readsearly the following week.Or: Bookstore AU where Victor keeps buying more books than necessary just so he can continue to see the cute cashier again.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Beta’d by [Brook](https://fullmetalcupcake.tumblr.com/) and [Lunar](http://lunar--resonance.tumblr.com/) This first chapter’s more of a prologue than anything but also it’s almost 7k lol
> 
> Sentences entirely in italics are in Russian. Victor speaks Russian to his parents or whenever he's at home really.

It was mostly by coincidence that Victor came across the book series that changed his life in more ways than one.

He’d heard of the _Children Near the Hill_ books a few times, and had even bought the first book out of peer pressure. However, it wasn’t until a close friend strongly ( _forcefully_ ) recommended it to him that he actually decided to give it a read. Victor put aside his own work, sat down, and read.

And he read and read until he realized it was nearing three in the morning and he had  just finished the first book in one sitting.

After that, Victor had immediately put in an order for the second book online. It took a couple of days to come in, but once it was on his doorstep he had stopped everything he was doing to read that one as well.

This time, he had the foresight not to pull an all-nighter. He wasdetermined to make this one last as it was unclear when the next book would be released.

As with all good things, the book did come to an end, and a terrible end at that. There was a cliffhanger and there was at most a six month wait until he could know the end of the story.

Logically, Victor threw himself into his work. He was just starting to catch up with deadlines when he received a notification from the author’s twitter saying the final release date was under two months away.

At the time, he had every intention of pre-ordering a special edition copy but almost as if sensing his unproductiveness, his own boss called him and asked him to come into the office and Victor was once again drowning in his own work. Before he knew it, the release date was upon him and any chances of getting a good copy were out the window.

The only upside to that was he was entirely caught up with his deadlines and could afford to take the next month off for his own pleasure. So a month to finish the final book (it would take him a day max) and a month to reread the entire series.

Now, only a few days after the release date found Victor and Yuri taking their usual route home through the town square from Yuri’s high school to their parent’s house. Today, he happens to look over in time as Yuri is talking to spot a little shop. Books were stacked high and clear in the window display and the sign proudly proclaimed _Sweetest Reads_.

Needless to say, Yuri isn’t as excited about the discovery when Victor slams on the brakes and swerves into the parking lot entrance they almost missed.

When they first enter, Victor worries for a brief second that they’ve actually found a library instead. Bookshelves tower in the store reaching almost to the ceiling in rows and aisles. There’s no seeing over them unless climbing the shelves is an option. It’s also strangely quiet since he’s used to the soft background music found at his regular bookstores. He doesn’t even see any price signs pointing him in the direction of the best sales when he walks in.

Before he can venture further into the store, a woman turns around from where she’s stocking the display and greets them.

“Welcome to _Sweetest Reads_ ,” she drawls making only the briefest of eye contact at the sound of the bell over the door. “Is there anything I can help you find today?”

“Can you point us in the direction of the young adult section?”

“Us?” She raises an eyebrow at him.

Victor looks over his shoulder where Yuri had been behind him, annoyed but definitely there. “Or… Just me I guess.”

The woman rises slowly to her feet and points down the nearest aisle. “Just go down about 4 or 5 rows and YA starts on the right hand side. The new releases should be at the end of the row, though.”

Victor gives her a bright smile but she’s already kneeling again to gather her now empty boxes. “Thank you so much,” he says but she just shrugs and continues deeper into the store.

As Victor wanders, he realizes the store is a lot more charming that he originally gave it credit for. There are signs pointing to the attached cafe and the faint scent of coffee and the muted chatter wafts into the bookstore as well. However, for all the business that the cafe is getting, the bookstore itself is surprisingly empty. He doesn’t encounter anyone else as he makes his way through the aisles.

There’s no doubt that _Sweetest Reads_ is hardly anything like the _Barnes and Nobles_ Victor is used to. It has its own magnetic pull all the same.

When Victor finds the young adult section, his eyes are already scanning over every title and spine in front of him. It’s been awhile since Victor last found himself crouched in the aisles of a bookstore so in this moment, he needs absolute concentration.

Victor can be the absolute definition of focus if he needs to.

Countless book titles and author names flow into his mind only to be forgotten seconds later. All of them irrelevant to him as he moves down the aisle. After a while, he finds that he’s no longer processing the actual book titles and instead focusing on the spine colors. He searching for the familiar orange and pink sunsets that mark the first two books in the series.

Just as his patience it beginning to wear thin, his eyes land on a little section at the end of the aisle dedicated to newer series and releases. Sitting proudly at the top of the display, with a few other hardback copies surrounding it, is the last book he was looking for.

His spirits and mood lifted, reflecting excitement in his eyes and giddiness in his grin. This was just the pick-me-up he had been needing.

Plucking a hardback copy from the stack, he hugs what is soon to be the newest member of his ever growing book family to himself.

Though he’s only been invested in the series for a few months, _Children Near the Hill_ is steadily working its way to the top of his (too long) favorite book list. So long as this final book didn’t disappoint, he’d have nothing but praise for the series.

The storyline and characters were amazing and incredibly well written. Rosa, the main character’s best friend, especially wormed her way into his heart with her good intentions leading to huge mistakes. It was entirely too relatable on his part. Looking back, it makes all too much sense as for why he was so absorbed in the works. The fact that this series was also the author’s first published works only solidifies his love and admiration for an up and rising star. Victor couldn’t be more excited for what the author would create next.

Moving from the young adult section, Victor runs through a list in his head wondering if there’s any other series he should buy while he’s already here. He looks down again at the book in his arms and decides it’ll be enough for the time being. Victor weaves through the unfamiliar aisles, making a beeline for where he hopes the registers are located.

Now that he has more time to actually look at the store, he realizes it’s a lot more cozy than he originally gave it credit. There’s certainly an old-fashioned feeling to it, but it is located in the townsquare so they building must’ve been around for a while. The more he looks at it, the more he’s certain it had to have been a library at one point. There’s plenty of step stools dotting each aisle even though they’re not needed everywhere. The books don’t reach the highest shelves but some of them are high enough up to warrant the use of the ladders all the same.

Despite how nice the store is, there still aren’t many people in it. Most of the customers seem to be completely bypass the bookstore and head straight into the cafe from what he’s seen. He hasn’t actually seen anyone else in the store aside from the woman that was changing the display as well. Granted, it is hard to tell where anyone else is with the tall shelves and the too small section signs.

But they had what he was looking for and in the end that’s all that matters.

Victor meanders through the store a bit more and wanders right into the cooking section. He’s just decided on a recipe book promising easy instructions and great results when the sound of heavy book stomping towards him make Victor look up.

Yuri approaches him trying to look intimidating and mad but he can’t easily pull off the look while holding a too sugary iced latte in one hand and his phone in the other.

“Aren’t you done yet?” Yuri growls, “We’ve been here almost 30 minutes. I have homework, you know.” He looks positively annoyed but Victor’s immune to any mean looks he can throw.

Victor shrugs and goes back to looking through the large cookbook. “I told you to stay in the car. You would’ve gotten to listen to your music and do your home while waiting.” He snaps the cookbook shut and starts to walk off. “But, yes, Yura, I think I’m done here. Let’s go check out.”

Yuri continues to grumble under his breath before taking a loud sip of the drink. He follows Victor anyways.

By time they’re in view of the front counter, Victor is actually ready to leave. He wants to spend the rest of the night reading this book and it’s still a while before he gets back to his house.

There’s only one person at the front counter but he’s turned away from the register and is instead kneeling at a box behind the counter. He pulls out books and stacks them neatly. He works slowly as if he’s trying to maintain the last of what busy work he has.

As he reaches further into the box for the last of the books, the back of his shirt rides up a bit exposing a strip of skin.

Victor clears his throat and looks pointedly away.

The employee in the box _squeaks_? (Yuri snickers into his drink.) He drops whatever books he’s holding and looks up to the duo with wide eyes hidden mostly behind large glasses.

They stare at each other for a moment longer, a faint blush rises to the round cheeks of the younger man.

Without much explanation, Victor finds himself equally as captivated.

The spell is broken when the other man’s eyes flicker to Yuri’s for a second then to the ground as he rises to his feet behind the counter. There’s the soft sound of the computer whirring to life and the man looks to Victor expectantly.

Victor sets his books down and reaches to pull out his wallet. He sneaks a glance at his younger brother trying to make sense of the last 15 seconds and why they were so unexpectedly… _strange_. Yuri is avoiding all eye contact and texting furiously away with only one hand.

“Did you find everything alright?” the cashier asks politely. His voice is soft while he scans Victor’s two purchases.

“Yeah, I was really glad to see you guys carried this series,” Victor answers kindly. The other man purposefully isn’t looking at Victor and focuses on the task at hand.

Not one to miss out on an opportunity, Victor stares unashamedly at the cashier.

He can’t be much younger than Victor, only a few years tops. Though he looks past college age, it’s kind of hard to tell with how his rounded cheeks make him appear a bit more babyish. Also there’s a distinct lack of bags under his eyes so Victor figures he must’ve graduated already. His black hair is bordering on overgrown but it’s also a bit wavy in a way that frames his face nicely. He’s a bit pudgy and if Victor’s being honest, he looks all the better for it.

Really though, his cheeks look so incredibly fluffy and soft Victor almost wants to reach over the counter and smoosh them together.

For obvious reasons, he doesn’t.

Instead, he pulls out his card and swipes it through the reader and focuses on not making the transaction weird...er than it’s already been. Punching in his info, Victor see’s the cashier finally look up.

His eyes fall to the cashier’s mouth as he says something that completely goes over Victor’s head.

Next to him, Yuri straight up laughs. “ _You’re ridiculous,_ ” he huffs in Russian, disbelief heavy in his tone.

Victor’s face grows warm but he ignores his brother and turns back to the cashier. “Um, sorry, what was that?”

“Do you have a rewards card with us?” he repeats for him. The cashier eyes Yuri suspiciously but eventually looks back to Victor again.

Victor shakes his head slowly, checking the card reader again to make sure there was nothing left for him to do. “Oh, no, I don’t.” His fingers still over the pad about to accept whatever amount he’s spent. “Actually, how long would it take to sign up for one?”

Yuri sighs at his side but ultimately doesn’t say anything.

The younger man hums and presses a few buttons on his own screen. “Not long, less than a minute. I only need your first and last name and then an e-mail address.”

“Ah,” Victor says, nodding. “Yeah, in that case, I’ll sign up for one.”

The cashier smiles and hovers his fingers over the keyboard. “Okay, your name then?”

“Victor N-i-k-i-f-o-r-o-v.” He recites off his e-mail as well before finishing the last steps of payment on his side of things.

“Alright, your total today comes to $30.42 so that’ll be 30 points added to your rewards account. You’ll receive an e-mail in the next 24 hours asking you to activate your account.” He prints off the receipt and puts it in the bag with Victor’s books before handing them over. “Thank you for shopping _Sweetest Reads_ , please come again!”

Victor puts on a bright smile and winks at the cashier. “Thanks, I’ll definitely be back.”

He’s graced with a sweet flush rising to the other man’s cheeks again before he turns with Yuri to leave the shop. Once they’re out of range of register, Yuri gags in an exaggerated manner.

“ _You’re gross when you flirt,_ ” Yuri complains as they leave the store.

Victor runs a hand through his hair, grinning at Yuri. “ _Aww, you think I’m cool otherwise?_ ” He leads them to the car and unlocks it before sliding in.

“ _Correction, you’re always gross._ ” Yuri slides into his seat and pulls out his phone. He types out a few quick messages before switching to twitter.

“ _Yura, you’re so mean to me when I took time out of my busy schedule to pick you up from school._ ”

“ _I didn’t ask you to pick me up just to watch you flirt with some pig at a bookstore. I just want to go home already,_ ” Yuri grumbles as they pull out of the parking lot.

Victor chuckles and continues to their parents’ house anyways. “ _Hmm,_ ” Victor muses mostly to himself for a bit. “ _I think I just found my new favorite store._ ” He can just barely tell Yuri’s glaring at him but Victor keeps his eyes on the road ahead anyways.

“ _If you go back, don’t take me with you. I don’t want to see your pathetic attempts at flirting and the line at the cafe was too long._ ” Yuri takes a noisy sip of his drink through the straw again before placing it back in the cup holder.

Shrugging, noncommittally, Victor turns into a residential area and makes his way through the neighborhood. “ _I can’t very well take Makkachin with me into the store. Everyone knows a baby brother is the next best thing to a pet dog._ ” At the undignified squawk from his younger brother, Victor howls in laughter.

“ _Don’t even joke about_ me _helping_ you _for something like_ that.”

Victor continues to laugh as they pull up in front of their parent’s house. Before the car comes to a complete stop, Yuri has the door open and his bag back around his shoulders.

“ _Don’t worry, Yurochka. Chris will always be my go to wing man. You’re only back up._ ”

Yuri slams the door in his face but Victor has the window rolled down so he catches all of Yuri’s words as he storms up the walkway to the front door. “ _Fucking old man! Go talk to Chris about whatever that was, I don’t want to hear another word!_ ”

Victor leans as close to the window as he can, smile still plastered on his face. “ _Love you too, Yurochka! Tell everyone I’ll be by over the weekend._ ”

The teen makes no signs of having head him as he unlocks the front door. When the outside door slams shut, Yuri appears behind the glass flipping him off with both hands.

Victor sends hand hearts and flat out cackles when his brother bristles and slams the door shut instead.

When he leaves the neighborhood, it takes an additional 20 minutes to get himself to his house.

Those 20 minutes are definitely not spent thinking about a too cute cashier he doesn’t even have a name for. They also aren’t spent thinking about ways to get said unnamed cashier to blush even more.

(They might be spent trying to find a discreet way to learn his name though since that’s kind of important if he intends to frequent the store more often.)

But the others are all things that most definitely do _not_ cross his mind.

* * *

 

True to his word, Victor heads back to his parents’ place over the weekend. It’s been awhile since they’ve all had time to get together and have dinner like old times. When he really thinks back, it’s been almost two months since he last saw them all together.

With them all living in the same town, it was a bit pathetic on his part.

At present, however, Victor is full of free time and he intends to use it right. A home cooked meal and some recipe pointers from the woman that understood him best seemed like a good place to start.

While he didn’t cook on his own often, the few meals he did make were becoming more flavorful and less burned to the bottom of the pan. It wasn’t quick progress by any definition but not having to order in every night was doing wonders for his skin and health. Still, that wasn’t to say he was anywhere near his mom’s level of expertise but he figured that was something that would just come with time.

After living on his own for so many years, he was starting to get the hang of things.

When he arrives, the house is bustling with noise. He can smell dinner baking all the way from the entrance hallway. The faintest notes from a song he could never forget and not as faintly, the sounds of muffled shouting coming from the game room at the back of the house.

He toes his shoes off at the door and heads to the kitchen first. The closer he gets, the more he recognizes the notes. It’s an old jazzy tune that’s been played since he was a baby. His mom is humming along slowly in spite of the complete lack of words. She sways slowly to the beat while stirring the skillet on the stove.

In spite of the winter weather, the warm feeling pouring into Victor’s chest is not entirely unwelcome.

“ _Mama, I’m home_.” He calls as he enters the kitchen.

She starts a little but when she turns to him, there’s a bright smile on her face. “ _Vitya,_ ” She grabs his face and presses quick kisses to both his cheeks. It’s a bit of a reach for her, Victor takes after his father in regards to his height and towers over her almost an entire foot. However, she’s a person of habit and no matter how much he grew, it wasn’t going to stop him from being kissed. _Especially_ not when he’s been away for so long. When she moves her hands from his face, it’s to grip his shoulders instead and stare at him with a stern look. “ _You took your time coming home._ ”

He frowns, even after all this time, he hates getting scolded by her. If it were anyone else, he’d be able to brush it off and keep doing his own thing, but the way she looks at him and her tone also leave Victor feeling like a child again. Regardless of him being well on his way to his 30’s. “ _I’m sorry, Mamasha._ ” He admits, trying to win her over just a bit. “ _I’ve been too busy with work._ ”

“ _Too busy to even visit your aging mother? I see._ ” She releases him and turns back to the sizzling pan she abandoned.

“ _Mama, you know it’s not like that. You’re nowhere near old enough to call yourself aging_ .” She sends him a withering look over her shoulder but doesn’t say anything. “ _I’ve really missed you all. It’s feels good to be home again._ ”

She sighs but when she looks at him again, there’s a reluctant smile on her face. “ _I should’ve known better than to raise you so charmingly. Next time, I better get more than a call or two and messages passed through your siblings._ ”

Victor drapes his arm over her shoulder, knowing he’s been forgiven. “ _Yes, Mama._ ” He watches her pour more seasoning into the pan.

“ _And if you ‘forget’ next time, I might just ‘forget’ how to cook for my oldest son._ ”

“ _Of course, Mamasha._ ” He pecks a kiss to her cheek.

He watches her as she sautes potatoes and onions while they make small talk. She asks about his work and Makkachin and tells him to bring the fluffy poodle with him next time so he’s not home alone. She scolds him about his eating habits when she asks if he tried the recipe she sent him a few weeks back. He asks her for so many recipes but only tries a few of them.

She moves around the kitchen reaching for familiar spices and toppings as if he wasn’t entirely in the way. Occasionally, she’ll hip check him if he gets too close to the pan or she’ll pull him away from the fridge when he looks for something that’ll definitely ruin his appetite for dinner. It’s all lighthearted but it does remind Victor how much he actually misses being home.

The peaceful interrogation goes on for a while longer until he tries one too many times to pluck food from the still hot pan. She smacks his hand away with the spatula but the way she sets her hands on her hips tells him he’s not getting another chance.

She kicks him out the kitchen without a second thought. “ _Go find someone else to bother, Vitya. You’re too impatient._ ”

“ _Mama, I’m starving!_ ” He throws her his best puppy dog eyes but she just crosses her arms and shoos him away.

“ _Dinner will be done in 15 minutes. I promise you won’t starve to death before then._ ” With those final words, she shuts the door to the kitchen and turns away from the glass window where Victor’s still making puppy eyes at her.

He comes to the bitter realization that he was actually going to have to wait to be fed like everyone else. It was almost as if he weren’t the favorite kid.

(Which he obviously was, he was the first born after all. Mila and Yuri didn’t know but it was better that way. They were cute when they tried to outshine him.)

Victor makes his way to the den where he figures his father is hiding out. He looks through the double glass doors to see him relaxing at the large wooden desk with a thick book open. Though Victor can’t read the title, he’s almost positive it’s new with the way his father tunes out the noise of the house around him.

It was never a question where Victor got his love for books from. Victor took after his mother when it came to his looks, he had her blonde almost white hair and long nose, though he had his father’s height and heart shaped smile. He got his love for learning from his mother and his love for reading from his father. Really, both parents enjoyed books but it was his father that opened the gate to Victor’s bordering obsession.

Victor still remembers when he was just a child and how his parents would take turns reading picture books and then chapter books as he grew older. Each book was a new world for his overactive mind to fall into fighting dragons and falling in love. It was beautiful to him. This part stayed with him no matter how much he grew until he was reading whatever he could get his hands on.

While this was all before Mila and Yuri were born, the memories were fond ones all the same.

Victor knew how much he and his father were alike in regards to reading so he decided to leave him to his new book. At least until dinner was ready that was.

Instead, Victor heads to the game room where he can hear the familiar sounds of Yuri losing at Mario Kart.

Poking his head into the room, he can see he is mostly right. On the couch is also Mila and Otabek but none of them seem to be doing very well in the race. There was an equal amount of grunts and shouts (and a constant stream of curses coming from Yuri) as they all take turns launching themselves from the course at every bend.

Rainbow Road was unforgiving to the group.

“Oh, wow, Yura, how’d you manage 12th place so soon?” Victor drawls as he enters the room. It’s easy to tell who Yuri’s driving based entirely on the fact that he only ever chooses Baby Rosalina. And also the fact that Baby Rosalina just fell off the same stretch in the course 3 times in a row only helps.

The second lap’s only just beginning but he’s pretty sure Baby Peach just threw a red shell at Yuri and lapped him in the same breath.

“Shut _up_ , old man! I’m still doing better than anything you could manage!”

“Yura,” Otabek says, not looking away from the screen. “I just lapped you, too.”

Yuri screeches and uses a mushroom to launch himself off the edge of the course. Again. Mila is cackling next to him but she also falls into space in a matter of seconds. From what he can tell, she’s still doing moderately better than Yuri with Waluigi in 11th place and actual racers in front of her instead of just the shimmering course and people lapping her.

Which leaves Otabek climbing his way from 6th to 2nd place as Toad. He’s concentrating and doesn’t say much aside from short grunts and sighs when he hits a banana peel or gets shelled. It’s not much different from his usual demeanor but even Victor can tell the course is getting to him.

Victor falls into the armchair unoccupied by the teens. He snaps a few pictures of them as the race continues. In a few pictures, they almost look halfway decent. In most of them, however, the teens are all a blurred mess after Yuri resorts to bumping into the other two on the couch in a last ditch effort to get them to mess up. In the end, he’s the one that suffers the most out of the three.

In a shocking twist, when the match comes to an end, Mila’s made an incredible comeback and is in first place while Otabek slips down to sixth again. Yuri remains in last.

“Baby Peach is a piece of shit and had it out for me, I swear,” Yuri grumbles as he gracelessly accepts his defeat.

“Right,” Mila teases while spinning her trophy in game. “It totally had nothing to do with the fact that you’re just really bad at Rainbow Road.

Otabek looks at the two of them, ready to start the next race. “Nobody’s good at Rainbow Road.”

Frustrated, Yuri throws his feet onto Otabek’s lap and leans into Mila who’s _still spinning her first place trophy_.

“If no one’s good at Rainbow Road, why do you _always_ choose it?” Yuri’s throwing whatever the 15 year old equivalent of a tantrum is and kicking against Otabek’s legs. Not too hard cause he doesn’t actually want to hurt his friend but goddamn if he isn’t pissed all the same.

“Yura, stop being a baby. Accept your crushing defeat with dignity,” Victor calls from the side of the room as he scrolls through the pictures he took trying to decide which one was the worst picture of the three to tag them in.

“Victor, you always end up in last place no matter the course, you can’t say shit!”

“Bold words coming from the kid who couldn’t even finish Rainbow Road,” Victor says distractedly while still looking through the pictures. He finally decides on a picture where Yuri’s face is twisted in a shout and Mila’s laughing hard. Otabek’s face is about as shocked as Victor’s seen it. He’s pretty sure this is when Mila blue shelled Otabek out of first place.

It easily fits into his No-Good-Yuri-Pictures-On-Insta rule.

He quickly tags the three of them and captions it with ‘cuties @yuraplsexy @oneina_mila_ion + @theotabest #familyPhoto #marioKart #GetWreckedYuri #OtabekIsDead #MilaIsRuthless’. He tops it off with a few heart emojis and posts.

Almost instantly, notification sounds go off on Yuri and Mila’s phones as the app shows them they were tagged. Leaning over Yuri’s shoulder, Otabek looks at the younger teen’s phone as he opens the post.

Victor takes this as his cue to leave. He rises quickly from the chair trying to make his exit before all hell breaks loose.

He’s a fraction of a second too late and Yuri’s embarrassed scream echos around the room before he’s launching himself over the couch for Victor’s phone.

“Stop tagging me in shit like that!”

Victor runs out, narrowly avoiding the younger boy. He rushes into the dining room with Yuri still cursing up a storm behind him. Victor cackles as they come to a deadlock at the long table.

“Old man,” Yuri pants, his face incredibly red. “Delete the pictures you took.”

“Yurochka,” Victor sings, waving his phone next to his face. “That’s no way to go about getting your way. Besides, all my followers have already seen you at your worst!” He opens the app and scrolls through the most recent comments. “And we’re already 200 likes in. The comments are super nice too!”

“You. Mother. Fucker. I’m going to--”

Before Yuri has a chance to finish his threat, their mother comes from the kitchen with a dish towel in her hands. She snaps it at Yuri hitting him squarely on the hip. The teen leaps almost a foot in the air, not at all expecting the older woman to have so much force behind her.

“ _Yura_ !” She exclaims, scandalized. “ _Just because you curse in English doesn’t mean I won’t understand you! I will not have that kind of language in my house. Now, apologize to your brother.”_

At the seething look he throws a Victor and the pleading eyes he turns to her with, she smacks him on the hip again. “ _But, Mamasha, Victor-_ ”

“ _Don’t make me force you two to kiss and make up like I had to when you were babies._ ” She crosses her arms and taps her foot impatiently. Though both Yuri and Victor surpassed her in height long ago, her entire aura makes the two of them shrink back as if they were children again.

“ _Sorry. Victor._ ” Yuri clips, keeping his eyes on his older brother.

The fire burning in Yuri’s eyes is enough for him to be thankful that he had his own bed and roof to sleep under tonight. Had they still been in the same house, Victor couldn’t be sure he’d wake in the morning.

Victor just grins a little and nods not wanting to test the younger teen further for his own safety.

“ _Thanks for saving me, Mama. Yura is getting so scary these days!_ ” Victor slides past Yuri, still keeping his eyes on him. “ _I remember back when he used to follow me around calling ‘Vitya, Vitya, carry me!’ or when it was dark and he asked his big brother to go with him to the bathroom._ ” Victor narrowly dodges Yuri’s elbow to his side as he dives into the kitchen. “ _You used to be so cute, Yurochka!_ ”

His mother enters the kitchen close after Victor just as the timer goes off. She smacks him with the towel as she passes him for the over. “ _Stop teasing Yura, I want a civil enough dinner. Save the fighting for later._ ”

At the sight of the roast she pulls from the oven, Victor has to remind himself to keep his mouth close and to not drool everywhere. It’s been far too long since he’s had a home cooked meal that actually looks and tasted good.

“ _Vitya,_ ” she says, setting the roast on the stove top, ” _Don’t just stand there, set the table._ ” She looks at him over her shoulder while she gets to work slicing up the meat.

“ _Yes, Mama,_ ” Victor calls as he gathers everything he’ll need.

It doesn’t take long for the table to come together. He sets six places, assuming Yuri convinced Otabek to stay (not that it’d be hard on his part) and goes around to collect his family.

He first goes back to the den only to see his father hasn’t moved an inch since the last time Victor came around. Victor knocks on the closed doors before letting himself in.

His father looks up as he steps into the room and an exact copy of Victor’s own smile blooms on the older man’s face. “ _Vitya, I didn’t know you were already over!_ ” He puts a bookmark to hold his place and closes the book before rising to greet his son.

“ _You were reading and I didn’t want to interrupt you. Dinner’s ready now, though. We figured you’d want food no matter what._ ”

His father laughs and drags Victor into a hug before kissing both his cheeks like his mother had earlier. “ _You know I’ll always make time for our Vitya, especially when you haven’t been by in so long._ ”

“ _Sorry about that, Papasha,_ ” Victor says as they leave the den together. One glance towards the dining room tells him that the others already made their way and claimed their places.

Victor ends up taking the free spot next to Mila while their parents take opposite heads of the table. Once plates have been filled and prayers made,there’s simultaneous calls of how delicious the food is and chatter around the table rises at full force.

He immediately goes through the same grilling his mother gave earlier but by his father. Conversation runs smoothly between bites of food. They mostly speak in Russian, occasionally, Yuri will translate things to English for Otabek if the meaning is lost or if it’s one of the older but nonsensical idioms their father loves to use.

After the obligatory interrogation is over, Victor makes sure to ask after his siblings. He sees Yuri more often than he see’s Mila since she’s in her second year of college while Yuri’s still a sophomore in high school.

“ _Mila, how’re classes going this semester?_ ” Victor asks when there’s a lull in conversation around them.

“ _At the risk of sounding like Yura,_ ” Mila starts, smirking at the sound of protest from across the table. “ _I have to say, you’re really turning into a boring adult if that’s the first thing you think to ask._ ”

Yuri snickers across the table as Victor reaches to pluck Mila in the middle of her forehead. He places his chin in his hand and reaches for his phone instead. “ _Well,_ ” He starts as he opens a familiar app, “ _I could go straight to asking about this girl that’s in your selfies a lot recently, but..._ ”

Mila flushes instead and reaches to snatch the phone from his hands. “ _She’s just a study buddy, we have a few classes together and she helps me out with the concepts I don’t get. You don’t have to read so much into everything,_ **_Victor_ **.”

Victor laughs as he scrolls through the rest of her instagram feed occasionally stopping to show his mom a picture or two. “ _Of course, studying is important no matter how smart you are or how many grades you skip._ ” He throws a wink at her as he likes another post of the dark haired girl and Mila. His younger sister flushes and continues to eat instead of replying to Victor.

“ _If all ‘study buddies’ spend hours on the phone together going over formulas after leaving campus, I don’t ever want to go to college_ ,” Yuri says from across the table around a mouthful of potatoes.

Otabek scrunches up his nose at his friend. “ _Don’t talk with your mouth full, that’s gross, Yuri_.”

Yuri scowls at him but swallows the rest of his food before continuing. “ _She’s terrible to listen to, Victor. She walks around the entire house and talks_ **_so loudly_** _and is_ ** _always_** _laughing like_ ,” He switches to what might possibly be the worst Mila impersonation they’ve ever heard, “‘ _Hahaha, silly, Professor Grace told us last week we can’t use that formula there. You have to use this other lame formula instead, hahahaha!’ She’s_ the worst.”

Mila sends a scathing look then. “ _I’m the terrible one? You and Otabek are constantly texting. Your phone is always vibrating and you guys see each other_ **_everyday_ **!”

Otabek looks confused for a moment before what MIla says sinks in. He looks away, taking another bite from his plate but Yuri continues to glare at his older sister. “ _At least I’m willing to admit that me and Beka are friends. You’re just jealous that we have things to talk about that aren’t school related_.”

Victor looks back to his phone, switching from Mila’s page to Yuri’s. He has the same amount of selfies as Mila, if not more, though most of them are with Otabek or some other school friends. Occasionally, there will be a picture or video of the house cat but there’s not much aside from an abundance of Yuri.

“ _I can’t believe I started an Instagram war at the dinner table. I just wanted to know how your classes were going, Mila_.” He laughs as he likes a few pictures he missed on Yuri’s page.

Mila throws him a glare that’s not nearly as intimidating when she’s also flushing incredibly. “ _College is great, the classes aren’t too hard and no one picks on me for being so young because they’re mostly dead inside._ ”

He smiles then and sets his phone down. “ _Now, was that so hard_?”

“ _I can’t believe you’ve transitioned fully into the boring adult lifestyle_.” Mila grumbles under her breath.

He ruffles her hair affectionately making the red strands stand up every which way until she smacks away his hand. “ _Wait until you start working and paying bills. Being an adult sucks_.”

“ _Be glad you’ve got so long off this time, Vitya. Make sure to visit more during your break. Your mama misses you terribly_.” Their father pipes up from the other end of the table where he’d been watching the conversations with a smile on his face.

Next to Victor, their mom frowns at him. “ _You say that as if you also didn’t spend the past couple months asking Mila and Yura if they’d heard anything from Vitya lately._ ”

“ _I’m not denying missing our oldest. I just think you miss him more. I’ve been ready for our Vitya to go off on his own for 28 years now_.”

“ _Papa, I only just turned 27_...” Victor says confused. He almost second guesses his own age for a moment.

“ _My point exactly_.” The table laughs animatedly. Victor can only pout for so long before he’s cracking a smile too.

They continue to tease and joke with each other lightheartedly. Time flies by incredibly fast and Victor doesn’t realize the meal’s over until he looks down to notice the dish is out of meat and the skillet is entirely starch free.

He has that nice full feeling in his belly, one that can only be achieved by eating his mother’s cooking and he’s starting to get sleepy.

Without any of them noticing, the afternoon faded into evening. Victor says his goodbyes to everyone and promises his parents that he’ll be back during the week and ready to help out around the house.

It was a great day spent together and on his drive back, Victor aches with the realization that he misses his family a lot more than he was prepared. The odd homesickness doesn’t go away until he reminds himself that they really only live 20 minutes apart. So long as he doesn’t get overly absorbed in his work again, it’ll all be okay.


	2. To the Beautiful You (Beautiful Boy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cashier Boy gets a name and the bad romantic cliches begin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright now things are rolling. Slowly, but they're moving. Not beta'd but I read this chapter so many times I never want to look at it again. Also this is just really long and at one point I almost managed to keep the word count at 6,969 but :,,,( it didn't happen
> 
> Chapter title comes from the [Wonder Girls' song 아름다운 그대에게 Beautiful Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcKH71dpcuQ) which is really the song that got me writing this entire fic lol
> 
> also note: any book titles used were made up by my friends and are not intentionally named after real series lol
> 
> double note: i just realized ao3 doesn't automatically put in the horizontal lines i had from previous docs so.... i went and added one where needed but holy shit that must've been confusing im so sorry

Victor didn’t have a problem.

In fact, he has the exact opposite of a problem if he’s being entirely honest with himself. (He’s not.) The cashier of that hole-in-the-wall bookstore was cute, but he wasn’t the only reason Victor returned to _Sweetest Reads_ early the following week.

He’s interested in the bookstore but not solely because of the staff it keeps. It confuses him to no end how he only just noticed the store’s existence after driving the same route through downtown for years. Granted, everyone that’s ever rode with Victor complains that he’s not the most observant in regards to anything that wasn’t directly ahead of him. Of course, these were all things said by the same people that swore driving with Victor would lead them to an early grave and/or seriously injure them. All because he takes corners a little fast and rarely slows down for yellow lights.

(No one _had_ to ride with Victor. Especially not if they were going to gripe and whine over how he shouldn’t have gotten his license in the first place but that was a heated argument for another day.)

 _Sweetest Reads_ also isn’t new either. There’s too much dust in the corners and high vents for the building to be anything other than a few years years old. Not only that, but Victor would have noticed construction projects going on and slowing down traffic if it were built recently.

All these facts and Victor still can’t shake the feeling that _Sweetest Reads_ just sort of… _appeared_ in front of him one day.

Today, it’s just after lunch so he doesn’t have Yuri with him which he’s incredibly grateful for. Victor loves his baby brother more than anything but he wants to be able to take his time exploring the store. He didn’t have the patience to deal with huffing and loud slurping of coffees the teen shouldn’t be drinking. Now that he’s not in a rush to finish off a great series, he can actually appreciate the store for what it is.

The first thing he notices is that there’s a lot less chatter coming from the cafe area than there had been last week. It seems mostly empty after the lunch rush. There’s still a girl at the counter, she’s flipping through a textbook and writing out notes but not at all paying attention to what’s going on around her.

It’s slow in the actual bookstore as well. There’s not anyone around that Victor can see, even the woman that was stocking the window display from last time is missing. Top 40 music blares from the store’s speakers, a complete turnaround from last week’s nondescript classical music but it’s nice all the same.

This afternoon, Victor doesn’t have a set list of books he intends to buy. There’s some suggestions he’s been meaning to look into, mostly recommendations from friends and co-workers, but none of them really stuck out enough for him to want to buy them immediately.

Instead of heading straight to one section or another, Victor wanders the aisles trying to decipher where in the store he is. He’s actually pretty sure he’s headed towards where the romance section _might_ be but the more he walks, the more he’s certain he has no idea where he is. The titles around him suggest either historical biographies or musical theater but for all he knows, it might be both.

It’s not long before Victor’s aimlessly wandering the aisles looking to see if there’s anything familiar. He’s just starting to think he’ll be lost in the nonfiction section for the rest of the afternoon when he turns down a different aisle to see a worker stocking the highest shelves from one of the step ladders. One arm is wrapped around the box of books resting partially on his hip while the other is reaching a bit further than what should be considered safe as he pushes books into their places.

A smile tugs at Victor’s lips as he takes in the unruly dark wavy hair and the way the t-shirt fit is a little too small and drags up while the worker moves. There’s no denying it, he’s the cashier from last time. Victor makes his way closer to the other man with a hand raised in greeting. “Hi! Hello, again,” he calls before he can think twice. He’s opened his mouth and what may possibly be the lamest thing he’s ever said comes out.

Three words in and he’s already making a fool of himself and _oh my god_ Yuri was _right_ he is utterly _ridiculous_ with no idea how to go about making friends normally.

He must’ve been louder than even he registered because soon as the words leave his mouth, the younger man starts with a surprised noise and his head whips over to where Victor’s standing close by with his arm still raised in a half wave. Unfortunately, the sudden movement didn’t bode well with how precariously he was balanced on the small ladder.

Victor watches in horror as everything seems to go down in slow motion. The ladder jerks and tips under him, the box of books spilling from the man’s arms. Copy after copy of titles rain down while the cashier windmills for any semblance of balance on the ladder that’s _still tilting_.

And then he’s falling towards Victor with eyes squeezed shut behind large framed glasses and lips twisted shut already anticipating the pain soon to come.

They land in a pile, groaning and breathless and in a _lot_ of pain. There’s really nothing glorious about this situation. Victor’s arm hurts from where it banged into the shelf as they went down and he’s pretty sure there’s a hardcover book half under his thigh. He didn’t hit his head, thankfully, but he can’t shake the feeling that everything from the last 15 seconds or so could’ve gone a lot better.

“Well,” he says instead once the air returns to his lungs. “That could’ve ended out worse.” Victor tries to rise, but the cashier is mostly on Victor instead of the floor. If he worked out as frequently as Mila, he might have a chance of lifting the other man off him but he’s been denying gym invitations for years now.

The dark haired man groans into the carpet next to Victor’s head before he starts to shift. The mop of hair is dangerously close to getting in Victor’s eyes before being replaced with a face. They’re inches apart from each other, close enough for Victor to study the younger man’s brown eyes and sweeping lashes. (Surely he has to be wearing mascara or even falsies? No one has eyelashes like this without some kind of help.) His glasses are crooked where they rest on his nose and smudged from where the lens pressed against his skin.

Those brown eyes change to squinting down at him almost as if his brain’s still processing how they got in this position. It takes a moment for the other man to recollect himself. A moment that seems to drag on impossibly long, the two of them so close together with arms framing Victor’s face on either side and just the two of them sitting in the same air, neither of them breathing. He’s not sure how long they look at each other like that, three seconds or maybe three years, Victor’s own eyes never stray from the ones hovering ahead of him.

Just as thoughts of how nice it is to be close to a man this beautiful start to pass through Victor’s mind, the spell fizzles and fades. The cashier’s eyes go incredibly wide and he’s rocketing from Victor’s lap and crawling away until he’s backed against the upturned ladder.

The other man’s face is cherry red with a flush that left no bit of skin untouched all the way to the tips of his ears that were well on their way to glowing. His mouth opens and closes around air and half formed words. “I-I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

Embarrassed is a beautiful look on this man. Even if it is at the expense of Victor’s own safety.

He gives short nod as he pushes himself into a sitting position. There’s a twinge of pain as he leans on his right elbow so he quickly switches arms. He glances at it to see it was skinned from the shelf and there’s a little blood but it’s nowhere near the worst thing that’s ever happened to him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Victor says with a thumbs up. “Glad I was there to break your fall.” He wisely doesn’t say anything about him being a main contributing factor in the other man falling in the first place.

“Oh my god... “ The cashier whispers, both hand pressed to his mouth. He crawls back to Victor and hovers a moment trying to decide where to check first. “Did you hit your head?” He reaches towards Victor but pauses before he can actually touch him. “Do you mind if I...?”

Really, he isn’t hurt aside from what’s going to result to an annoying bruise in a few hours time. When he watches the worry form on the other man’s face, he can’t help but nod along anyways.

The other man runs a hand through the shorter hairs at the back of Victor’s head and over the crown. Though the touch is short and only the slightest press of gentle, searching fingers, when he pulls away, Victor swears he can still feel the barest lingering warmth.

He lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

The younger man stands abruptly and reaches out a hand to where Victor’s still propped up before pulling the older man up as well. The touch doesn’t linger, once Victor’s on his feet, the younger man’s hands are behind his back. His gaze flickers down to the skinned elbow and he shifts his weight awkwardly before deciding on something.

“We have, um, there’s disinfectant and bandages in the back room if you want any?”

Again, Victor’s no stranger to getting hurt, if anything he’s a bit on the clumsy side himself, so he definitely doesn’t _need_ to put a bandage on anything. If he’s entirely honest, had he been at home when he got this, he might’ve ignored it completely and gotten back to work. But still, as he watches the younger man’s eyes shift from Victor’s face to his skinned elbow, concern clear as day, Victor finds himself agreeing without much of a second thought. “Yeah, that’d be nice, I think.”

“Alright,” he sighs in relief, “this way then.” He gestures for Victor to follow him as he weaves them expertly through the aisles and rows leading them to where the registers are.

When they reach the counter, there’s another man texting rapid fire into the phone in his hands. He doesn’t look to be that much older than Mila and when he grins at his phone for a moment, he looks even younger.

“Phichit,” he calls, leading Victor behind the counter. “I made a, um, mess earlier. If Mari comes back from lunch early, can you keep her distracted? I’ll only be a minute or two but she’ll never let me hear the end of it if she sees that.”

Phichit looks up from his phone with a half smile on his face from whatever was on his screen. “I _guess_ ,” he drawls though he doesn’t truly look bothered. He raises an eyebrow at Victor before texting out another message without looking. “I mean _I_ shouldn’t be over here either but okay.”

The other man sighs, exasperated. “Just yell for me if Mari comes back or if there’s a customer. And at least try and look like you’re paying attention.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep the place from burning to the ground.”

“Thank you,” the other man calls as he leads Victor into the back room.

Victor’s lead to a chair and takes a seat, watching while the cashier runs around the room searching cabinets and drawers for something. It doesn’t take long for the other man to return with the first aid box in his hands.

He fumbles with the box while pulling out cotton balls and rubbing alcohol. “I am so, _so_ sorry about this. I should’ve been paying more attention to my surroundings and maybe just moved the step ladder instead of trying to reach. And to actually _injure_ a customer, I-”

“Really,” Victor cuts him off. “It’s okay, I’m hardly hurt and _I’m_ the one that made you fall in the first place.” Victor offers the other man a smile in good will because really, it’s not like he could’ve died or anything. Worse that could’ve happened is he managed to sprain his wrist or something. Victor would take a barely skinned elbow over that any day.

Brown eyes choose to focus instead on soaking a cotton ball in alcohol. Victor watches silently while the other man cleans him up. The first touch of the alcohol soaked cotton ball still manages to surprise Victor even though he’s watching the cashier press it to his arm. He flinches a bit at the combined cold sting that comes with using disinfectant. This, of course, sends the other man into a flurry of apologies which Victor promptly waves off.

“Um,” the other man’s voice hums as he searches through the first aid box. He pulls out a box of bandages and sifts through it with a furrow to his brow.

“Is something wrong?” Victor asks as he watches the younger man start to frantically search through the box more.

He jumps a bit again, as if he’d already forgotten Victor was there with him. Victor bites back his grin and stares into the first aid box as well. “Um,” he starts again, setting the box down with finality. “We don’t really have any plain bandaids…” He doesn’t look Victor in the eyes but pulls out a few bandaids from the top of the pile.

Immediately, Victor has to bite back a laugh. He settles instead for an amused smile. “They’re not bad, I don’t mind.” It’s not that there’s anything wrong with them or that they’re too large. All the bandages in the box have cute designs on them from hearts to polka dots and even Disney themed ones.

The younger man lets out a breath but does pick up the first bandaid he sees. “We used to have regular plasters but the only ones getting hurt were the kids that kept running around. They normally stop crying faster when there’s a miniature Baymax on their knees.”

Victor holds up a hand before the other man has a chance to unwrap the bandage he’s holding. “Actually,” he says, no longer trying to hide his smile. “I want that Elsa one.” Brown eyes squint up at him, trying to figure out if he’s joking or not but Victor reaches into the box instead and grabs the bandaid he’d been eyeing. “I’ve been told we look strikingly similar.”

Finally, the other man cracks a smile and chuckles. He plucks the bandage out of Victor’s hand and applies it with little trouble. “Better?”

“Definitely,” Victor grins. “You know,” he continues, “in spite of our mutual efforts to get each other killed, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”

The younger man huffs out a laugh and reaches to push up his glasses. “ _I_ know who _you_ are, Victor Nikiforov.”

“Oh, you have a good memory. Did I leave that good an impression on you last time?”

The other man stands to his feet and pushes his chair back into the table. “It was really only a few days ago but yeah, you left an impression alright, I’ll give you that.” When Victor rises beside him, he holds out his hand. “Yuuri Katsuki.”

Victor smiles again as they shake hands. Yuuri’s hand was soft and warm, an overall delight to hold but the handshake was still a weird formality considering they were practically pressed together not even 10 minutes ago. “It’s nice to meet you, again.”

They make their way from the back room and into the rest of the shop again where Phichit is scowling at his phone behind the counter. The younger man pays them no mind as they head further into the store. Victor’s really just following Yuuri but the other man doesn’t seem to mind.

When they reach the mess of spilled books, Victor helps Yuuri clean up without having to be asked. It’s comfortable silence as the two of them work together. Occasionally, their hands will brush together as Victor hands over books and each time Victor can’t help but think about how soft Yuuri’s hands are. Really, this man can’t be good for him if he’s this distracting after having only said so many words to each other.

It doesn’t take more than a few minutes for them to finish collecting the books and right the step ladder. Thankfully, none of the books are too damaged from the fall. There’s the rare dented corner from when they landed wrong but nothing that would require them to be pulled from shelves.

“Thanks for helping me fix this mess even though you’re not the one who works here.” Yuuri says.

Victor laughs at that and runs a hand through his hair. “Not at all, Yuuri. I couldn’t leave you to clean a mess I helped cause.”

Yuuri shrugs, pulling himself to his feet and setting the box of books on the now upright step ladder. “You learn to expect the worst from people when you work retail.” There’s a small smile on his face as he mirror’s Victor’s movement and pushes his bangs back.

“I try not to be the awful customer in anyone’s story.”

“I’m sure there are stories about you either way.” Yuuri laughs, finally balancing the box again on his hip. “I’ve got to get back to the counter, let me know if there’s anything else you need.”

“Wait,” Victor calls before Yuuri can leave the aisle. “I’m actually lost. Where might the adult romance section be?”

Yuuri’s eyebrows raise and a small smile creeps onto his face. “Victor,” he says slowly, “this is actually it. Well, it starts here, just go down around two more shelves for the end. I know we’re remodeling but everything’s not that hard to find.”

“Oh,” Victor breathes. “Of course. Thank you.”

Yuuri’s hand goes to cover his mouth and hide his too wide smile. “You just helped me pick up around 20 copies of _A Chance Encounter_.” He picks ups a book from the box. The cover has two women holding each other, looking longingly into each other’s eyes with a dramatic sunset and farm house in the distance. It’s one of the most generic looking romance covers he’s ever seen.

“I was a bit distracted,” he says honestly. He plucks the book from Yuuri’s hand. “Good thing this is one of the titles I was looking for.”

A small giggle escapes from between Yuuri’s lips before his hand flies to cover his mouth again. “Yes, well.” He takes a steadying breath, smile still pulling at the edges of his mouth. “I’ll leave you to it. You know where to find me.”

And just like that, Yuuri’s gone again. Victor’s left alone surrounded by books and forcing his train of thoughts away from possible signs and wishes for divine interventions. (They were in the _romance_ section for god’s sake.)

Victor sighs to himself and tries to to dwell on it. With his luck, this definitely wouldn’t be the last time he found himself flustered at the sight of the other man’s smile… or in his presence in general. He really hoped he’d learn to get used to is rather sooner than later.

Collecting himself, Victor turns to the books and begins his search. None of the titles he had in mind today were done by authors he was a particularly knowledgeable on. He’d heard their names mentioned here and there but he’s never read any of their works.

This was a direct result of most of Victor’s collection being young adult focused. The genre tended to appeal to him more with how much easier it was to find diversity there than in anything marketed towards adults. Of course, the majority of the genre was cookie cutter in plot and romance, it could use a lot of work, but there was still a better chance of him being surprised there than in adult romance.

Which was why Victor was thankful for his friends. They knew what he wanted to read and were willing to do the filtering for him when it came to anything outside young adult.

Today’s overall goal was to expand his collection, start filling out the newest book case he bought recently, and maybe even find inspiration in a new series.

It doesn’t take long for Victor to choose his books, the vague list in his head being more helpful than he thought it would. He intended to only buy a few books but of course limiting himself at a bookstore was near impossible no matter how old he got.

Besides, if he didn’t like any of the books he bought, at least it would give him all the more reason to return to _Sweetest Reads_ and find something else worthwhile.

When Victor heads back to the registers, Yuuri and Phichit are in the middle of a conversation. “Look at this guy,” Phichit’s waving his phone around in Yuuri’s face. “I don’t want to be petty and block him but he’s really testing me.”

“Wait, hold still, what’d he say?” Yuuri grabs the younger man’s hand and brings the phone closer to his face.

“He _insulted_ everything I stand for!” He exclaims, “‘What’re you supposed to be? A bear or something?’ I even tagged the picture hashtag hamster onesie. This is the third time, Yuuri. Should I just change my entire branding?”

Yuuri’s laugh rings out and it sounds nothing short of music to Victor’s ears. He’s almost hesitant to interrupt knowing the other man will pull himself together for a customer.

“You do look like a bear in that one though. An adorable multi-colored bear with huge ears and eyes on the hood. So vicious, Phichit.” Yuuri laughs more and the sound brings color to Victor’s cheeks and for a moment he feels _so_ _alive_ it’s _wonderful_.

Victor finally steps closer with his books in his arms and just as he feared, once he sees his approach, Yuuri is quick to contain himself. Yuuri waves him forward and grabs the books from Victor’s hands.

He makes quick work scanning through the stack, the entire transaction going by too soon for Victor. “Can I see your rewards card from last time?” Yuuri asks with his hand out.

Victor hands him his card and he’s already paid with the books in the plastic bag before Yuuri’s speaking again.

“So,” he starts, “the book you bought last week, did you enjoy it?”

Victor positively beams. (Definitely _not_ because he was worried he wouldn’t get to say much more to Yuuri during his too short visit. And definitely _not_ because _Yuuri_ remembered his book choice from the week before and decided to ask him about it. It was all inconsequential.)

“It was _amazing_ and so emotional! I almost wanted to cry a couple times during it.” That was a small lie, he had cried more than a few times throughout the entire book… especially at the ending. “Are you a fan of the series?” Victor asks. He leans onto the counter as close as he can to the other man with a wide grin and sparkles in his eyes.

Yuuri smiles softly and runs a hand over the back of his head. “Yeah, I’ve been keeping up with it since the first book came out. I’ve been dragging out the final book, though. I’m not ready for the series to end.”

Victor nods vigorously. “You’re so strong! If I was working here, nothing would be able to stop me from going through the copies before they were on the shelf and reading them.”

Yuuri laughs again at that and it’s a strange feeling being the one to make him laugh like this. Yuuri is gorgeous when he smiles. His cheeks look so soft then and there’s a subtle flush on his face again. He laughs with his entire face from his eyes squinting closed to how his nose crinkles just the slightest bit.

Victor has to take a slow, calming breath as it hits him full force again why he was immediately infatuated with the younger man. Yuuri is adorable in every sense of the word.

“It’s not easy,” Yuuri continues. “ Especially for the _Children Near the Hill_ series. It’s one of those works that I’m probably never going to be over even after reading the last words.”

“Isn’t it though! I read the entire last book soon as I got home. I even drank a couple cups of coffee so I wouldn’t fall asleep.” There’s not many people that he has the chance to talk books with. At least, not anyone that’s just as passionate as him about them anyways. “How far are you into the last book?”

“I think I’m just after the part where Rosa rejects Ellie because she has feelings for Jessie? Or at least somewhere close to there.”

“That part was so painful to read!”

Yuuri laughs, a hand going to the back of his neck again, rubbing sheepishly. “I was crying too hard to keep reading. Which sounds really lame and embarrassing now that I say it out loud, _god_ .” Yuuri puts his hands to his tinting cheeks. “Anyways, I was really hoping they would get together but also _Jessie_.” Yuuri’s brown eyes were sparkling too now, Victor realizes. There has to be something magical about the man to explain why Victor continuously finds himself captivated by everything about him.

Victor doesn’t have a chance to tell Yuuri that he also teared up (read: cried like a baby) during that part. The response is on the tip of his tongue when the saxophone intro from _Careless_ _Whisper_ fills the register area and his phone starts buzzing insistently in his pocket. “Sorry,” he says, pulling his phone out. “Just a moment.” He presses the phone to his ear just before George Michael can start singing. He doesn’t get a chance to say anything before there’s the sound of a horn blaring and rapid yelling in French.

Victor pulls the phone away from his ear and turns the volume down until the yelling stops.

“Sorry, asshole drivers, you know how they are.”

“No? I don’t get road rage like you, so I really don’t know. What’s up, Chris?” Victor wanders away from the counter not wanting to disturb the mostly calm atmosphere of the store in case Chris decides to ruin Victor’s hearing early.

As if on cue, Chris yells some more and grumbles. The audio gets weird for a moment from the volume before it fixes itself. “My phone fell over, my bad.”

“Was there a reason for this call or…?” Victor trails off, giving his friend the benefit of the doubt. He’s feeling just a tad bit impatient even though it is time for him to get heading home anyways. He has to clean up his place before it starts getting too out of hand again.

There’s straight silence for a couple moments, long enough for Victor to wonder if the call was dropped.

“Yeah, I’m almost at your house. I wanted to make sure you were up before I come over.”

“I’m not home, I’m not that far away, though.” Victor answers, checking his watch to see how much time he has before Chris inevitably destroys his kitchen.

A horn blares in again and there’s more grumbling before Chris reply comes through distracted. “If you’re with your parents, I can just head over there instead.”

Victor glances back up to the counter and sees both Yuuri and Phichit looking at him. When their eyes meet, Yuuri looks away with a flush rising to his cheeks. Phichit just waves with a smug but knowing look on his face. “Give me a sec,” Victor says to Chris. He presses the receiver to his shoulder and walks over to the cashiers again. “Sorry about that, my friend’s about ten minutes away from breaking into my house.”

Yuuri waves his hands but still smiles soft. “It’s no problem, there’s no need to apologize.”

“It was nice chatting with you, though. I hope we can talk again soon.” Victor gives a blinding smile and to his pleasant surprise, Yuuri returns it with only a little hesitance.

He raises a hand to push back the wavy hair falling in his face. “That’d be nice, you’re fun to talk books with.”

Victor freezes for a second when Yuuri pushes his hair back. He must be imagining… yes, that must be it. Victor gathers his purchases and gives them one last wave. “See you later then, Yuuri!”

“Come again soon, _Victor_!” Phichit chimes in with a smile Victor’s only familiar with because he’s seen it mirrored almost exactly on Chris’ face multiple times. There’s a squeak of protest from Yuuri and something Victor doesn’t understand passes between the two.

Still, he waves to the other cashier as well and brings his phone back up to his ear as he turns away. “I’ll be home in a bit, you still have your key, right?”

Chris’ laugh comes off a little distorted and it cuts off for a fraction of a second in the middle. “Of course I still have my copy. Someone’s got to make sure you eat more than delivery pizza seven days in a row when you’re busy.”

“Okay, okay, let Makkachin out when  you get in.”

“See you soon!” Chris sings before hanging up.

* * *

 

It’s not a long drive from the bookstore back to Victor’s house. In the middle of the day with hardly any traffic, he’s home in under half an hour. Chris’ car is already taking up a spot in the driveway when he pulls in and he can hear the faint sounds of Makkachin barking at birds from the backyard. It was a warm enough day for mid January so he wasn’t too worried about him being out so long.

He lets himself in and is immediately greeted with the overwhelming smell of too many kinds of sweets baking.

“Victor,” Chris calls from the kitchen, “your milk’s been expired almost two weeks and you have exactly three eggs. How am I supposed to work in these conditions?”

Victor sets his keys down and kicks off his shoes. “You don’t have to use my kitchen for your recipes.” Victor calls back. He heads straight for the backdoor to let Makkachin in and deliver some well deserved pets.

When he finally enters the kitchen, there’s the all too familiar sight of Chris dirtying more bowls than entirely necessary. “Do you really need to use all five of my cooking bowls for whatever this is?”

Chris smiles at him and wipes at his nose adding to the streaks of flour on his face. “Someone’s got to try my new recipes. Damien says I’m ruining his New Year’s resolution and jeopardizing our relationship by cooking so many sweets. Besides, if you get tired of them, you can just take them home. Everyone knows teenagers have bottomless pits in place of stomachs. Give it to Yuri and Mila and whichever batch they finish off first is the best.”

Victor snatches a tiny cake from the cooling tray. “I knew it, you’re only using me for my family.”

Chris goes to pour the new batter into another cake pan. “Of course, your family loves me. I have to treat them right.”

“They’d love anyone that cooks half as many desserts as you. Which reminds me, do you have the recipe for the cake you brought over on New Year’s? I’m sure Mama would love to try it out.”

“You know I do, I made some adjustments, by the way. I'll e-mail them to you later.”

Victor thanks him and heads into the living room to put away his newest purchases. “Oh yeah, Chris,” Victor calls while pushing aside some older books and knick knacks to make space on the shelf. “I bought a couple of the books you recommended. Any particular order you want them read in or can I just go all out?”

Chris sticks his head out from the kitchen door. “It doesn’t matter but I think you’d enjoy _When an Acquaintance Calls_ the most but it’s up to you.”

Victor hums to himself and puts the other books on the shelf keeping one to himself. “I can start here then.”

“Is that where you were today?” Chris’ voice rings out from the kitchen. There’s the sound of the faucet turning on then Chris comes out, drying his hands on a towel all the way. “Don’t you normally buy your stuff online since it’s less of a hassle?”

“I like to leave the house every now and then.”

“I don’t believe you in the least bit.” The other man says, dropping onto the couch next to the book case.

Instead, Victor focuses on rearranging the shelf in front of him. “I found a small store near by. It’s pretty odd but the staff is fun to hang around.”

“The staff,” he hums, “shouldn’t you be more interested in the selection than anything? If it’s small, would they even have anything you like?”

Victor plucks a book off the shelf and holds it up for Chris to see. “They had the _Children Near the HIll_ series and won me over. Today was my second visit but I haven’t had a chance to see their entire selection yet.”

The blond man pulls out his phone and starts scrolling. “Something must be _really_ distracting if it’s managed to keep you from scouring the entire store from the first visit.”

“I just wanted to get my book and get home the first time. Plus, I had Yura with me and you know how he gets when I make stops before taking him home.”

Chris leans over and props his chin into his hand. “And this time?”

One of the bookshelf holders go tumbling to the ground as Victor’s hand knocks into it. He barely manages to catch it in his lap before it can bend against the carpeted floor. “It’s been awhile since I’ve posted to my Instagram, I should fix that.”

His friend wears what can only be considered the most intense shit eating grin as he watches Victor. “I think you’re definitely hiding something juicy!” He sing songs while Victor applies filters and types out a caption. “Posting to Insta isn’t going to save you this time unless it’s a picture of whoever’s got you enamoured.”

Wisely, Victor decides not to say anything.

“Are you going to spill or am I going to have to blackmail information out of you?” Victor stares at Chris hard. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Chris continues. He pulls up his phone and starts scrolling through a folder titled ‘End of the Year 2k15’ “I do have an abundance of photos and drunken screenshots that I’m _sure_ Yuri and Mila would love on their persons.”

Victor pales and drops his face into his hands. “Okay, fine, I don’t know what you have but if it ever leaves your phone, I’m coming after you.” Victor moves over to the couch to sit next to Chris. Soon as he’s situated, Makkachin comes over from the armchair and lays over him as well effectively taking up any free space on the couch.

“It’s really not that big a deal,” Victor mutters after petting Makkachin for a while. “The employees are great and one of them just so happens to be into the same series as me which isn’t strange considering it’s a bookstore.”

“And…?” He prompts.

“...And he’s kind of incredible to look at with the best smile and skin and hair and eyes, oh my god, his _eyes_.”

Chris grins and presses the home button on his phone, leaving the photo album behind. “There we go, was that so hard?”

Victor glares at him. “ _Yes._ ”

“Always so dramatic. What’s his name?”

Victor signs and grabs a pillow to shove his face in. “ _Why_?” He moans into the pillow. “You wouldn’t even know him!”

“Welcome to the year 2016 where we have these handy dandy apps called Facebook and Instagram.”

Victor eyes him warily but after Chris waggles his eyebrows enough, he cracks a smile and moves him and Makkachin over to make room for Chris on the couch. They’ve done this before with anyone Victor’s been involved with and even Chris’ current boyfriend. It’s become something akin to a ritual for the two of them and it’s been pretty useful in deciding if someone was a total creep or jerk or worth their time in general.

Still, Victor wants to hold back and discover all these things about Yuuri on his own.

“Could it be,” Chris continues after Victor’s been silent too long, “the Great Victor Nikiforov is mooning after some nameless guy?”

He smacks Chris’ leg. “ _No_ , I know his name. I’m trying to decide if I really want to do this.”

“It’s not like he’ll know we’re searching for him. It’s just Facebook, people look each other up all the time. But, if you really don’t want to, I won’t push you.”

In the end, curiosity wins. Victor sighs resolutely and takes the phone from Chris. He types in Yuuri’s name and it takes a few times since he’s not entirely sure how to spell his last name… or his first name for that matter.

Immediately, they can rule out the ones living in Japan since they obviously didn’t meet across the sea. Eventually, they realize that’s about the only thing that can narrow it down by. The next fifteen minutes are spent searching through the recommended friends only to come up empty handed.

They scrolled through enough profiles. Yuuri wasn’t a 49 year old man living halfway across the country but he also wasn’t a 13 year old boy too edgy for facebook and going through his emo phase.

“Let’s try Insta? Everyone has an account there, these days.” Chris suggests, closing out the other app.

“Yeah, I saw him taking selfies with a co-worker. I bet he has quite a few followers too with his looks.” Victor hands Chris back his phone and pulls out his own to speed up the search.

Again, they come up empty handed. Too many profiles not in any language they could understand and exactly zero pictures of Yuuri to lead them in the right direction.

“What about his friend?” Chris asks, not yet ready to give up. “Do you know his name, maybe?”

Victor taps a finger to his chin in thought. He doesn’t remember much about the other cashier if he’s being entirely honest. He only had eyes for Yuuri and that was proving to be bad for his health since everything else in his memory faded out of existence whenever he was in the picture.

“Um,” he starts, hesitantly. “He had dark hair and dark skin, there was something about a bear and or hoodie earlier but I’m not entirely sure what that was about. Yuuri laughed, though, and he has a great laugh, you know?”

Chris grins and taps his phone on his hand. “No, Victor, I don’t know. What I do know is that lovesick Victor is the best.”

“I’m not lovesick, I just know how to appreciate good people when I see them.”

“Right, anyways, the friend’s name?”

Victor thinks some more, it was a name that he’d never heard before but it had a nice ring to it. “Pea or Peach maybe? It started with a ‘P’ but it was… Phichit! Yeah, I think his name was Phichit.”

“Good enough for me,” Chris starts scrolling through the recommended accounts. Most of the accounts are in Thai, which neither of them speak, and Instagram’s in app translator was incredibly useless.

Eventually, Victor has to admit defeat. He sighs and leans back against the couch arm, throwing his feet into Chris’ lap. “It was too good to be true. I’ll never find him again.”

Chris shoves Victor from his lap and stands instead. “You know where he works, just keep buying books and talk to him there. Or you could get his number and text him. So long as you don’t come on too strong, you’ll be fine.”

“... Oh yeah. I can just get his number, cause that’s _so easy_.” He groans and kicks his feet a bit in frustration.

Chris heads into the kitchen just as the timer over the stove goes off. There’s some banging around as he removes the cake from the oven but he’s back soon enough. “It takes a lot to get you infatuated this quickly.”

Victor feels a flush rise to his cheeks but he doesn’t outright deny Chris this time. “He just gives off a good vibe. You know how some people are.”

“Who would’ve thought the one to distract you so easily was spending his days working away at the place closest to your heart. It might do you some good go spend time with people outside your work group.”

He groans louder, running his hands through Makkachin’s fur. “I don’t know, I just want to talk with him more and listen to him laugh and see him smile. He’s a literal angel, Chris.”

“Don’t worry, Victor. We’ll find a way to get you with your bookstore boo.”

He throws an incredulous look at Chris who’s already taking selfies of Victor’s misery. “Why are we friends again?”

“Because I’m the best and don’t do refunds. You’re stuck with me!” Chris posts the pictures and tags Victor in all of them. (Along with the tags #Lovesick #MyBabysAllGrownUp #KeepOnMooningVictor #YuuriIfUrOutThere after the caption.)

(Somewhere in the back of his mind, Victor knows the mess that’ll come from listening to Chris is karma for everything bad he’s ever done and for all the bad pictures he’s tagged his family in.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [phichit's onesie](https://www.pajamasbuy.com/products/onesies-hoodie-tottoko-hamtaro-hamster-pajamas-animal-costume.html)
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> 
> Thanks for reading and I think I might have an idea of how long it takes me to write chapters now B)
> 
> find me on [tumblr](http://viiktornikiforovs.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/kiyo_yachis) and chat w me about yoi <3<3


	3. RIP Victor's Wallet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor unleashes his Moves and Yuuri kills Victor for the 2nd (3rd?) time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit its been a month and some change. yep. I had writers block... three chapters in... so this chapter is shorter by like a lot (4k aint bad i guess) cause I moved the scene i was looking forward to to the next chapter. I'll change the chapter title later, but I have to get ready for work riiiight now lol
> 
> Also sorry for any mistakes, I really rushed editing cause I have to leave soon omfg sorry I'll fix it when I get home or tomorrow morning!!
> 
> Incase anyone gets lost, Victor's texts are italicized, Yuuri's are bolded, and Chris' (the few) are underlined!! Most convos entirely in italics are in Russian (to Victor's family) and that's abt it

Victor doesn’t want to come onto Yuuri too strong. As far as Victor can tell, Yuuri is shy. He seems like the type to run away if things got too intense too soon and that was the last thing Victor wanted. Of course, the concept of ‘being smooth’ is always easier said than done according to Victor.

Every past relationship he’s had consisted of him giving his all until he wrung himself dry over someone else. He’ll be the first to admit that the process is not the healthiest and has always been a key factor to those relationships ending, but it was the only way Victor knew.

He doesn’t want to jump right into a relationship with Yuuri, he’s not even sure he’d be able to in the end. Victor wants to take his time, regardless the outcome, Yuuri seems like he could be a good friend and that’s not something Victor wants to miss out on. It’s not often he finds someone so genuine and interesting as Yuuri.

So, in his quest to befriend Yuuri slowly, Victor lasts all of one day before finding himself back at the bookstore. Originally, there was every intention of waiting a few more days before going back, maybe even waiting until the end of the week but Victor’s never been the patient type. He wanted to spend his time before going back, at home and reading over the newest books he bought. Even the _idea_ of letting his bookshelf fill with unread series bothers him to no end. Concentrating for any longer than half a paragraph was becoming increasingly difficult when all he wanted to think about was a certain cashier.

Daydreams would often take place around the scenes in the books. One minute Victor would be half enjoying the books, still struggling to remember the main characters’ names. The next, it would be him meeting the new farm hand, Yuuri, for the first time in the too large kitchen of his country home. He’d manage to seduce Yuuri solely using his award-winning pie baking skills and the fresh squeezed lemonade Victor made that morning. Victor spoke with an American southern drawl, that was nothing like the faint Russian accent he still had in real life, and Yuuri would fall in love with him right there.

He wasn’t sure if they were supposed to ride off into the sunset on horseback or maybe save the small town from being bought out by the big city corporation. Victor never actually finished the book with all his daydreaming.

Knowing he’s not going to get anywhere with his purchases, Victor decides to go back to the store without any plan on how he’s going to seduce Yuuri without an award-winning pie and failing small town. It’s only when he’s wandered around with four books he’s never heard of in his basket that Victor decides he should buy a few different genres and figure out what Yuuri’s into from there. Since Victor’s always looking to expand his collection and find new things to enjoy, it should work out in his favor.

Ten books later, Victor realizes the flaw in his plan. He should’ve set a limit on how many he could buy before he empties his bank account in a matter of weeks.

Keeping his eyes forward and off the shelves, Victor makes a beeline back to the registers.

To his surprise, Yuuri’s head is down when he reaches the registers. If it weren’t for the soft groaning and the way Yuuri’s fingers drummed the counter top next to his head, Victor would’ve thought him asleep. Still, Victor hesitates as he walks closer.

“Are you alright?” Victor asks before he can help himself.

Yuuri stiffens at the sound of his voice then drags his head up slowly. He doesn’t look… good to say in the least. His face is pale and his eyes are rimmed red with complementary dark bags underneath them. There’s also a fading pink imprint on his forehead from where he was pressed into the counter.

Victor can see the gears turning in Yuuri’s head as he processes Victor’s presence and question. He stands upright and turns on the register before replying.

“Good afternoon,” he says, almost as if he’s running with lag.

Victor sets his basket down and starts setting the books down for Yuuri to scan them. “It’s just past 10 but good afternoon, I suppose. Are you okay? You don’t look too good.”

“I’m—“ Yuuri is cut off by a long yawn. “Sorry, I’m fine, just a bit tired.”

Victor watches as he struggles to get the hand-held scanner working. It takes a few more attempts and when the first book is scanned, Yuuri immediately fumbles with the next one, almost dropping it. “Just a bit?” Victor replies quietly while watching Yuuri struggle.

“Sorry,” he apologizes, trying to work faster.

“Don’t worry about it, take your time.”

Yuuri nods, takes a deep breath, and works his way through the rest of the books. “I was up until early this morning by my own lack of self-control.” Victor hums in question when Yuuri breaks off with another yawn.

“Lack of self-control? What has you up so late? You’re not still in college, right?”

Yuuri shakes his head and brings his lip between his teeth. He’s bagging Victor’s books already and holding a hand out for Victor’s rewards card. “Your total is $122.73. Credit or debit?”

Victor pales at the price but swipes his card all the same. If he was going to become a regular here, he’d need to set a limit next time. “Credit, please.” Victor sighs as he swipes his card.

It’s not until Yuuri hands him his bag that he finally answers Victor. “I finished _Children Near the Hill_ last night. The ending completely took me by surprise and I had to double check the first two books to make sure this was where it was all heading. Unsurprisingly, it was all foreshadowed if you knew what to look for, I just managed to miss every single hint.” Yuuri runs a hand through his hair and Victor understands why his fringe was resting so weird today. “It’s really lame, I know, but I couldn’t bring myself to sleep knowing that was the ending.”

Yuuri buries his head in his arms and doesn’t look at Victor. In turn, Victor tries his best to keep from laughing, he honestly does, he bites his cheek and closes his eyes for a moment, but with his eyes closed, the imagery just becomes more clear. Yuuri’s ear burn red at the snorts that make their way past Victor’s lips.

“Yuuri,” Victor says, voice wavering with amusement. “Who knew we were so similar. If I hadn’t read the first two books just before the last one, I definitely would’ve done the same thing.”

Yuuri groans but doesn’t actually reply. He doesn’t even lift his head to look at Victor.

Victor tries again, not wanting to upset the cashier. “I swear, I have a notebook I use to specifically mark down anything suspicious or things that stand out while reading. Anything that might need to be revisited. Sometimes the things I notice turn out to be nothing but most of the time, there is actual foreshadowing happening.”

An eye peaks out a Victor from the mess of hair before he closes it and tilts his head down again.

“I shouldn’t have laughed at you, but it’s just such a familiar move that I couldn’t help myself.”

Yuuri barely nods his head, Victor’s almost certain he imagined it but then Yuuri’s propping his chin on a fist and pursing his lips. “It’s okay.”

“Was it at least worth it?” Victor asks, not wanting to leave Yuuri alone just yet. “How did you feel during the last scene when Rosa and Ellie had to part ways? That part absolutely ruined me and I spent a solid hour hugging my poodle while thinking it over.”

Yuuri laughs softly and stands back up straight. “Really? You too?”

“Yes, of course! I don’t know how anyone would be able to get through that with a straight face. Their friendship was so realistic and having them leave like that, I felt like I was the one seeing my close friend for the last time. I didn’t want to believe that was the ending.”

“I _know_. That was why I needed to go back and reread. It didn’t make sense following the direct events of the third book. For Rosa, Ellie, and Jessie to narrowly make it on stage like they’d wanted since the first book and then to immediately split up after that. I was so upset. Don’t even get me started on Jessie and Tiffany being end game when Rosa was finally accepting her feelings.”

Victor laughs and leans forward on the counter. “I was so angry about that. Like Jessie and Rosa kissed so many time and then in the end Jessie just ditches the other two with Tiffany.”

The color seems to return to Yuuri’s skin right in front of Victor’s eyes. They spend more time talking about the books and time passes quickly between the two. They’re interrupted more than a few times as customers come to check out. Yuuri tells him there’s always more customers here around lunch time whenever the café is busiest as well.

It’s not until after a line of eight or so people is finally dealt with that Victor decides he should probably let Yuuri do his job. Though they’ve only managed to discuss their way through half the first book, Victor doesn’t want to overstay his welcome. He also doesn’t want to stop talking to Yuuri but he’s been standing at the register counter for over an hour now.

As if sensing his inner dilemma on what to do, Victor’s phone chimes with an alarm for a Google Calendar reminder. Confused, he pulls his phone out. He doesn’t remember setting any appointments today, at least not during lunch time. Once he opens the app, he pales and powers off his phone.

“Sorry, Yuuri,” he says, already gathering his books from where they were resting under the counter after he got tired of holding them for so long. “I forgot I’m supposed to take my brother to an appointment in an hour and I’m already running late.”

Yuuri’s smile dampens but he’s quick to wave his hands in front of his face, dismissing Victor’s apology. “Don’t worry, you should get going then. I didn’t mean to keep you so long. Thanks for sticking around so long but we can always talk again next time. Maybe not long enough for you to miss appointments, though.”

“What can I say, it’s great talking with someone that understands how I feel about that series. Even my friends that introduced me to it thought I was enjoying it too much.” Victor pushes his bangs out of his eyes and sends a blinding smile to Yuuri.

He glances down at the phone still in his hand and decides to take a chance. “You know,” Victor starts, “I think our tastes in books are strikingly similar. I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better.” Victor wets his lips and takes a step closer to the counter. “If it’s okay with you, we can exchange numbers?”

Yuuri’s reaction is immediate, his entire face burns with that flush Victor’s missed and his mouth falls open a little.

Who would’ve thought, he would’ve failed his goal of not coming on too strong only one day in. Just as Victor’s starting to think of ways to backtrack, Yuuri finally replies.

“Oh…” He takes a deep breath and Victor’s certain his next words are going to be a rejection then a polite request to leave the store and never come back.

“Okay,” Yuuri says instead. “That would be, um, that’d be nice? Exchanging numbers… with you.” Yuuri moves to pull out his own phone. He unlocks it and passes it across the counter to Victor and holds out his own hand for Victor’s phone.

Even though he’s the one to suggest it, Victor didn’t honestly believe he’d get this far. His reaction is delayed and Yuuri raises his eyebrows a fraction. He looks on the verge of taking his phone back and asking Victor to leave so Victor quickly passes him his phone and takes Yuuri’s from him.

The exchange is a bit awkward if he’s being honest but that’s mostly due to it catching them both by surprise than anything.

“There,” Victor says, handing Yuuri back the phone. He watches Yuuri smile a bit at the string of flower emojis he put next to his contact name. Yuuri’s own contact is just his name but Victor will take the time to add emojis later. “Thanks, Yuuri! I have to get going but I’ll text you later!”

“Yeah, that’ll—Okay, yeah. Talk to you later, Victor.” Yuuri’s face is still incredibly flushed and his eyes keep flickering down to the phone in his hands but he does manage a small wave.

Victor gathers his bag of books and throws one last smile over his shoulder to Yuuri before taking off through the store.

* * *

They barely make it to Yuri’s appointment on time. Victor was late picking the teen up from school, catching him in the middle of a passing period so the withdrawal request took longer to reach him. Then there was traffic due to construction that started on the highway. It was a wonder they weren’t 30 minutes late to the doctor’s office. A wonder created mostly by Victor’s ability to speed at all the right times and utilize his radar detector to the best of its ability.

The appointment in question was just a yearly eye doctor’s visit. It goes about as well as they could hope. To Yuri’s mild annoyance, he took after their father in regards to his eyesight. This year, he would be needing the help of reading glasses to keep up with his school work.

While Victor didn’t laugh during the appointment when the optometrist told them that Yuri was nearsighted, he did laugh on the car ride home when Yuri needed to hold his phone close to his face to even read his texts.

“Ever wonder if that’s part of the reason your eyesight’s going bad, Yura?” Victor teases, glancing over at the passenger seat.

“Ever wonder if your age is why you’re going bald, _Victor_?” Yuri snaps back without missing a beat.

Victor laughs but doesn’t let the words get to him too much. Male premature balding doesn’t run in their family. He just had a large forehead but there were plenty of great people out in the world with large foreheads. Beyoncé for one and any comparison to Beyoncé was a compliment in his eyes.

Because Victor’s a good older brother, he doesn’t take Yuri back to school even though there’s still one class hour left. Also, because it would be a waste of gas to drive the extra time back to the school then drive home from there.

When they get home, Yuri immediately goes upstairs complaining of homework. He leaves Victor downstairs in the family room with their mom while she watches an old Russian film. It’s one everyone in the house has probably seen more time than they can count. It’s also one of her absolute favorites. Though they’ve both seen it so many times, Victor can’t help by grin when the movie reaches its climax and he can hear his mom sniffling into the pillow she clutches to her chest.

He’s not in the room for long before he’s pulling out his phone. He doesn’t want to watch the movie for the umpteenth time but he does enjoy spending time around his mom all the same.

Victor’s getting ready to send a text to Chris about how much he accidentally spent on books when another text comes in mid-sentence.

**Hey, this is Yuuri, I just wanted to make sure I have the right number :)**

Victor’s heart immediately stops and he must make some kind of choking noise because his mom pauses the movie and looks over at him concerned.

“ _Are you alright, Vitya_?” She asks.

“ _Yes, I’m okay! Nothing to worry about here._ ” He trips over his words and doesn’t do a good job sounding convincing but she turns away nonetheless and continues to play the movie.

Victor types out a message before he accidentally leaves Yuuri on read for too long.

_Hi, Yuuri! Don’t worry, this is the right number :)_

Victor holds his breath and contemplates sending a second message. Before he can start typing his phone vibrates and another message comes in.

**Ah, okay good, I don’t want to bother you if you’re still at the appointment though.**

_You caught me just as I got back. Shouldn’t you be working now though ;)_

_Not that I mind getting to talk to you, of course :D_

Victor powers off his screen and hums softly to himself. His phone buzzes again in his hand after a few seconds. He has to bite his cheek to keep from smiling so much.

**I’m on my lunch break right now. It’s a bit late but my sister took her time getting back to the store. I also need to stay awake. If I fall asleep during my lunch, I’ll be completely out of it for the rest of my shift.**

_Fun~ I can keep you company!_

As he sends out his message, another one pops up into the chat as well.

**Sorry, I don’t mean to make it seem like I’m bored at all and just need someone/thing to pass the time with.**

Victor finally allows himself to smile. He breaths out slowly through his nose and contemplates the message for a bit.

_It’s okay, Yuuri, I didn’t take it that way. I’ve been dying to ask you more about your book tastes anyways._

_I was going to ask you earlier_

_But well :D we got a little distracted_

**Oh. That’s good then, I’m glad :)**

Victor’s heart stops right there in his chest. With the use of a single emoji. He never thought he could be this weak.

**What did you want to know?**

_Ah, well, as you know, I bought a lot of books today. I have no idea where to start, though;;;_

_I was kind of just grabbing things off the shelf if they seemed interesting enough._

**That actually explains a lot…**

_Haha, yeah, I should’ve set a limit before just buying things._

**Of the books you bought, I think I’ve read most of them. Granted, I read a lot of books so I can’t remember all of them but I’m pretty sure**

_Oh, do you remember any strong feelings for them or were they forgettable_

**They weren’t forgettable, not really anyways, but it’s like….**

_But….?_

“ _Vitya,_ ” His mom interrupts, glaring at Victor over the pillow she clutched to her chest. “ _If you’re going to spend so much time of your phone, you could at least turn that vibrate off._ ”

Victor grins sheepishly at her and puts his phone on silent. “ _Sorry, Mamasha._ ”

**They’re just not super life changing I suppose. I did enjoy them all the same. Especially “When the Crows Die”. That one had me on the edge of my seat from the first page.**

_I’m curious now, what does a book need in order for Yuuri Katsuki to consider it life changing ;)_

**I’m not entirely sure myself, just the way they sit with me in the end. I’m a bit picky though so not many books make the list ;)**

Victor’s heart stops for the second time since their conversation began. He stares at the emoji and _swears_ he’s a mess. He quickly screenshots the conversation and sends the picture to Chris with the only caption being ‘ _!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ ’.

Chris would understand.

He couldn’t have taken that long to send the message to Chris but not seconds after Chris reads the message, Yuuri’s texting him again in a more rapid fire style than Victor’s seen yet.

**Sorry!!!**

**That was waaaay too forward of me.**

**Don’t think anything of it!**

**I’m a lot more tired than I thought I was so sorry**

Victor frowns and huffs a breath.

_No, no, it’s okay, you don’t have to apologize, I got distracted on my end._

_I am curious though, what books have you found life changing so far?_

The winking emoji still haunts Victor, even as he forces himself to change the topic. Talking about it further seems like that would make Yuuri uncomfortable and that’s the last thing Victor wants when they’re already becoming friends. He’ll back off for now.

In the time it takes Yuuri to respond, Chris is spamming Victor’s phone with emojis. An unsurprising amount of tongue and eggplant emojis and the fire emoji. Chris was always more emoji literate than Victor but it’s safe to assume these are all good things. Eventually, the spamming calms down to actual words that Victor can understand better.

holy hell

wen did u gte his # ??????

_You know I’m good like that B)_

ya right

whtevr u say lolol

it was my advice tht got u this far

_;-* Who knows~_

Victor would love nothing more than to keep talking with Chris, but a notification from the top of the screen tells him Yuuri has messaged him again.

**I have a bit of a list, because they’re all books I enjoyed so much. Honestly, I’ve probably reread them more than any reading I had to do for school. Anything by Robyn Lee for one, I loved her most recent series from 2012, “Flower Heads” I still have the entire series on my bookshelf, though it’s been a while since I gave it a good read through. Oh! And Kristen O’Malley as well, her Dignity trilogy was spectacular!!! Have you read either of those?**

_Wow! We have such similar tastes, it’s been a while since I’ve read them, too, but I do own them all and I remember the character dynamics, not to mention the ending relationships, they were so amazing!!!_

**Right? I could go on for days about them and the rest of the books on my list. And trust me, I’d love to but my break’s almost over and my sister keeps making faces at me trying to get me to come back to work.**

_Ah, that’s a shame, I’m enjoying talking with you, Yuuri :)_

**Sorry! We can talk again later…?**

Victor’s about to agree, just let Yuuri go so he can keep doing his thing but he’s still running on a bit of a high from that winking emoji. Some part of him is hoping it really wasn’t because Yuuri was tired and maybe Yuuri was just getting comfortable with him after talking a few more times.

_Yuuri! Would you like to meet up for some coffee?_

_Later, of course!_

_You can tell me all about your favorite books :)_

There’s no immediate response and Victor’s heart is in his chest for a solid five minutes. At the ten minutes, he accepts his fate, knowing he truly messed up. He takes a screenshot and sends it to Chris.

_:,,,) Chris I made A Mistake_

Lol

_Not lol I came on too strong didn’t I_

i mean idk

maybe hes busy

with work

like he said

_Oh_

_Oh yeah_

As if on a timer, sensing Victor’s minor crisis, Yuuri messages him back.

**:) That sounds nice, I’d like that. I don’t have work on Sunday if that’s good for you?**

This time Victor’s _positive_ his heart stops. He doesn’t realize he’s happy groaning to himself until the pillow his mom was holding landed near his feet. Her aim was always the worst out of all of them.

“ _Vitya,_ ” she says “ _go, you’re too loud and you know I love this movie. Out, out, out!_ ” Another pillow is thrown at him, this time landing on the floor in front of the couch, not even reaching him.

Victor stands are puts his hands in the air. He can’t even find it in himself to pretend to be sheepish about interrupting her movie. “ _Sorry, sorry, Mamasha. I’ll leave._ ”

Victor’s already typing out a reply before he’s even completely out the room.

_Yeah! Sunday’s great for me, what about noon?_

It takes a few more minutes for Yuuri’s response to come in again. Now that he knows it’s probably due to him doing his job, though, Victor’s about as patient as he can be. Which is still to say, not that patient but he’s trying and not screenshotting the message to send to Chris.

In the time that it takes Yuuri to reply, Victor manages to pace the entire house once. His dad isn’t home yet, off doing whatever retired middle aged men do at this point in their lives. Mila is still in class as well and Victor knows better than to go upstairs and bother Yuri when he’s doing his schoolwork.

Victor is just about starting to wonder if he should leave another message when Yuuri replies.

**Sounds good, let’s meet at another café than the one attached to the store though.**

**Too many nosy workers…**

**Anyways, I really have to go now though but we can hash out the details later. Talk to you soon :)**

_Sure thing, bye~_

Victor powers off his screen for a moment and takes a minute to smile madly to himself. He drops his face into his hands and breathes out slowly trying to collect himself.

He must have been in the dining room a lot longer than he thought. Victor looks up quickly when the sound of Yuri stomping his way down the stairs hits his ears. Yuri rounds the corner, takes one look at Victor’s goofy expression, and shakes his head.

“ _Y_ _ura,_ ” Victor calls, following Yuri into the kitchen. “ _You’ll never guess what just happened_!”

“ _Ugh, that look on your face tells me I don’t want to guess in the first place. I just needed a glass of water so I could keep working, I’m not here to chat._ ”

“Aw, but Yura, I’m so happy!”

“Talking with you is going to destroy my braincells and I still have another class’ homework to get through before then.” Yuri makes a hasty escape with his glass of water leaving Victor to keep smiling at his phone.

In a last bout of excitement, Victor takes a couple more screenshots and sends them to Chris.

_Okay, but_

_Am I good or am I good_

Oh my god.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme know what you thought of this chapter!! comment!! talk to me on tumblr @viiktornikiforovs or twitter @kiyo_yachis I crave interaction!!!
> 
> Also question! Okay so like this is supposed to be around 20 chapters but Idk if I have the stamina for that, would you guys prefer a shitton of shorter chapters more frequently (2-5k) or reaaallly big chapters (6-15k) so I can finish it sooner (but also take longer updating again? Lemme know cause I'm really conflicted no matter what I do lol

**Author's Note:**

> Okay yeah this is my first multi-chapter fic that I actually have planned out from start to (almost) finish and it's gonna be like 20 chapters give or take (kill me). Idk what my update schedule's going to look like but let's all pray...
> 
> *youtuber voice* make sure to like, comment, and subscribe for updates on the fic. Reaally smash that motherfuckin like (kudos) button y'all and I'll see you next time B)
> 
> also catch me on [tumblr](http://viiktornikiforovs.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/kiyo_yachis) (where i actually talk abt my fic lol) and chat w me im w e a k y'all
> 
> p.s. if you guys catch any references to other anime (hint) or music (wink wink), lemme kno cause i am only sort of subtle and really want everyone to know what i'm talking about lolol


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